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Cudlitz dives into 'Walking Dead' whirlwind

Michael Cudlitz has appeared in a number of TV series, but 'The Walking Dead' fan experience is different. "It's insane. I love it," he says during an interview in a hotel hallway at Comic-Con in San Diego.

The following story contains a couple of general spoilers that were included in a Season 5 trailer shown at Comic-Con.

SAN DIEGO – Michael Cudlitz has appeared in a number of TV series, but The Walking Dead fan experience is different.

"It's insane. I love it," he says during a short interview in a hotel hallway at Comic-Con, where fans go crazy at anything Dead-related, particularly the stars.

"I've never, ever experienced anything like this before. I don't know if I every will after, but I'm enjoying it right now," said the Southland and Band of Brothers veteran, who joined the hit AMC drama last season as military man Abraham Ford.

"I did some time on Beverly Hills, 90210, the first one. I thought that was an insane, intense fan situation, and it came nowhere near this," Cudlitz says. "They are fantastic fans. They're very vocal and expressive in their joy – and disappointment, at times."

It seems pretty much all joy at Comic-Con, where fans packed the biggest hall at the convention center for a Dead panel that announced a Season 5 premiere date (Oct. 12); featured stars such as Andrew Lincoln and Norman Reedus; and played a new trailer that indicated Rick Grimes & Co. would eventually get out of Terminus and would try to head toward Washington, D.C.

Getting to Washington has been Abraham's mission, since he believes fellow traveler Eugene has a cure for the zombie infection and needs to get to the capital.

"Abraham Ford is completely mission-oriented, and his mission right now is to get to Washington, D.C.," Cudlitz says of his character, whose comic-book cohort lost a wife, daughter and son.

As for Rick and his group, "I don't think (Abraham) is so concerned about getting along with them initially. It's more about the mission. If they fall in line with the mission, they're useful to him. If they don't, then they will be left behind to do their own thing," he said.

Abraham has no qualms about killing walkers, as the Dead's flesh-eating zombies are called. "They just need to be killed. There's absolutely no reason to waste time on them," he says. "Kill them. Move forward. It's very clear. We're at war."

Scenes where the actors kill walkers "are awesome," he says. "I've had the opportunity to do things I've never done in my career. It's what you dream of when you're a kid."

He admires the makeup work done by executive producer Greg Nicotero and his team.

"They're dealing with this new layer of decay that the walkers have gone through. A lot of their noses are gone. We have background artists who come in and are playing walkers and they have noses. But when Greg is finished with them, it's 'Where's the nose?' (And) you are literally a foot away from them."

In the upcoming season, he likes the appearance of walkers who have been stuck in the water, which loosens their skin, and a scene from the trailer in which the zombies are shot by a water hose. "That was some pretty amazing stuff we shot that day," he says.

As for Abraham's relationship with Rosita, one of his traveling companions, "They are together and we will be exploring more of that," Cudlitz says, although he stops short of defining their relationship as love. "I don't know what love looks like in an post-apocalyptic world. So ... maybe."